Cabinet attaching device



Nov. l2, 1968 J. A. Bus

CABINET ATTACHING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 14, 1966 FIG.Z

FIGA

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FIGA

INVENTOR JOHANNES A, BUS

Nov. l2, 1968 J. A. Bus 3,410,584

vCABINET ATTACHING DEVICE Filed June 14, 196e 2 sheets-sheet 2 Fi G. l0

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INyEmoR JOHANNES A. aus

ATTORNEY United States Patent O CABINET ATTACHING DEVICE Johannes Antonius Bus, Rothrist, Aargau, Switzerland, assignor to Bus-Wand A.G., Glarus, Switzerland Filed June 14, 1966, Ser. No. 557,438 Claims priority, application Switzerland, June 16, 1965, 8,470/ 65 5 Claims. (Cl. 287-20.925)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A detachable fastening device for intermediate shelves, wall dividers and the like in furniture cabinets comprising a panel with a slotted recess at an end, a bore at the top into the recess, a fitting within the slot, the fitting having a tap which extends into the wall socket of the cabinet, the tap extending from a supporting part of the fitting along an axis which is asymmetrical to the axis of the support and coincides with the axis of the panel being inserted, the support being formed with cutouts having surfaces in hook-shape and U-shape, respectively, and a cylindrical clamp having an eccentric bore on its underside, the bore having walls shaped as cams bearing against the hook cutout of the supporting members so that twisting of the clamping member about its central axis pulls the support in both radial and axial directions to thereby press the panel against the Walls of the cabinet.

The invention relates to furniture cabinet structures and primarily to a cabinet structure wherein modifications may -be readily effected, such as addition or subtraction of intermediate oors and partitions.

With cabinet furniture, whether glued or knock-down, it often happens that intermediate shelves or partition walls must -be built-in subsequent to the installation thereof. `If in such case so-called standard furniture is involved, where the cabinet is subdivided by means of intermediate shelves or partition walls to suit the customer, it is a great advantage for eflicient fabrication if such intermediate shelves and partition walls can be built-in after the cabinet body has been assembled. The cabinet bodies can be mass produced and put in stock, and the alteration of such bodies, such as `dividing by subdividing elements, can be made later to comply with the wishes of the purchaser of the cabinet. Also, in the case of knock-down cabinets that are assembled from separate parts, it is advantageous to complete the modification of the cabinet to satisfy conditions as they arise when installation takes place. The possibility to make the desired changes in the case of :furniture as referred to above, such as shifting or adding of shelves or partitions, can only be made where the original shelves or partitions are not permanently glued into the cabinet body.

The object of the invention is to create the suitable facilities for rebuilding and the installation of intermediate shelves and partition walls with preformed cabinets by means of appropriate fittings. An essential prerequisite for the design of such a fitting is that the fitting constitutes a structural element of the cabinet. In the case of tall cabinets, the intermediate shelf has not only the function of a supporting member, but also the additional function of providing additional bracing to the sides of the cabinet to prevent bulging of such sides. Such a fitting must, therefore, be capable of taking over the structural requirement of forcing the intermediate shelves against the sides of the cabinet, or at least to assure a rm connection between the intermediate shelf and the side walls. Also, the intermediate shelf and the partition wall when installed should not, when subjected to shock, be likely to Patented Nov. l2, 1968 fall out due to improper assembly. It is furthermore required that the interior of the cabinet not be obstructed by and be clear of projecting parts of fittings. Such fittings must be built into the subdividing element and ilush therewith.

Screw connections are known which, however, do not otter the opportunity to add intermediate shelves to existing furniture without taking the furniture apart.

The addition or removal of subdividing elements without the need of disassembling the furniture is the essential characteristic of the instant invention and constitutes the primary difference from what is known in the art.

Furthermore, fastening devices ifor supporting subdividing elements -that are added to existing furniture are known, which consist of a peg that engages behind a recess in a clamping element. The clamping results from twisting the clamping element so that the part of the clamping element that engages the peg is arranged eccentric to the turning axis. However, the forces generated by such clamping act only in one direction, preferably in the axial direction of the peg.

In contrast to this, clamping -forces acting in two directions are obtained with the device of this invention. The new device is a tting that can be attached llush with the wall of a cabinet being remodeled by means of pegs, and a turnable clamping element interacting with the peg for clamping. The characteristic of the fitting is that by twisting the clamping element, the parts of the clamping element interacting with the peg exercise clamping forces on the fitting in two directions approximately at right angles to each other. The invention consists of certain details in the construction and arrangement of parts of the device whereby the object is attained and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows the fro-nt view of a finished, glued and assmbled cabinet in which an intermediate oor is being bui t in;

FIG. 2 shows a similar cabinet in which a partition wall is being built in;

FIG. 3 shows in section a front view of the connection riletween one side of the cabinet with an intermediate oor; l FIG. 4 shows the same connection as FIG. 3 in plan v1ew, parts being shown in dottedlines;

FIG. 5 shows in plan view the clamping element as a separate part of the device;

FIG. 6 shows the clamping element in sectional view taken on line '6 6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 shows the clamping element in sectional view taken `on line 7 7 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 shows the litting as a further separate part of the device in side view;

FIG. 9 shows the fitting in plan View; and

FIG. 10 shows the tting in front view.

The installation of an intermediate shelf or a partition wall in an already assembled cabinet body is possible when the intermediate shelf or the partition wall is placed on four fittings (two per cabinet side or shelf), which are screwed in at right angles to the sides or shelf of the cabinet and such shelf or partition wall are pulled up by means of a camping element to the sides or shelf of the cabinet.

In FIGS. l to 4 the original side walls and the shelf of the cabinet are designated 1. The additional panel, such as an intermediate shelf, or the partition wall added to the cabinet, are designated 2. A screw socket 5 for tap 8 is let into wall 1. The tap and supporting part 6 together form the fitting, whereby the support part, as shown in FIG. l0, has a rectangular cross section Whose height is about two-thirds the thickness of the intermediate shelf 2, but the width of the supporting part is smaller than the thickness of such shelf.

As shown in FIG. 3, the support part 6 is sunk into the slot-shaped recess 18 in the intermediate shelf 2. Tap 8, which is provided with screw threads (not shown), is placed so in relation to support part 6 that the central axis 9 of the tap coincides with the central axis 10 of the intermediate shelf 2, and therefore necessarily lies asymmetrically to the central axis 11 of support part 6. The offcenter arrangement of tap 8 in relation to the support part is necessary due to the fact that the initial torque of the clamping element, later to be described, is applied exactly at the center line of intermediate shelf 2.

Support part 6 has two cutouts 12 and 15, of which the cutout 12 is situated closer to tap 8 than cutout 15, and the two surfaces 16 and 17 thereof form a hook 31. The second cutout 15 is U-shaped and is situated directly behind hook 31. Both cutouts 12 and 15 are of the same depth. The widths of the hook-shaped cutout 12 and the U-shaped milled slot 15 are so dimensioned that they permit the admission of the clamping element later to be described.

Hook 31 engages the clamping element later to be described (FIGS. 5-7) and makes possible the axial pulling up of the intermediate shelf 2 to wall 1 of the cabinet by means of wall 16 which stands vertical to the central axis 11. The radial pulling up of the intermediate shelf 2 on the support part 6 is brought about by means of flange 17 which lies parallci to the central axis 11.

The seating of the intermediate shelf 2 on the support 6 takes place in the recess 18 on the underside of intermediate shelf 2, which recess is of such size that the rectangular cross section 7 of support part 6 linde. room in it. The length of the recess is made a little longer than the support part 6 of the fitting so the support part, after tightening, does not lie with its face 19 against the end of the milled slot 20.

On the upper side of the intermediate shelf 2 there is a boring 21 with its axis directed precisely at axis 11 of support part 6. The vertical boring 21 is placed prependicularly to the upper surface of the intermediate shelf 2 and half-way between the hook-shaped cutout 12 and the U- shaped cutout 15 of the supporting part 6. The diameter of boring 21 is smaller than the length of support part 6 and of such size that the clamping element later to be described can be accommodated therein. The depth 22 of boring 21 is so dimensioned that it reaches almost to the bottom 23 of the hook-shaped and U-shaped cutouts 12 and 15. The depth 22 is therefore made a little short of the bottom 23 of the hook-shaped and the U-shaped cutouts, so in tightening the clamping element the underside of the latter does not lie on the surface 23 of the cutout. As the milled slot 18 is in the underside of the intermediate oor 2 and the boring 21 is made from the upper side of intermediate shelf 2, the two depths overlap and there appears in the area of boring 21 an almost rectangular hole 24 going through the entire thickness of the intermediate floor.

The pressing of the intermediate shelf 2 against side wall 1 of the cabinet is done by means of the clamping element 25. Clamping element 25 is a cylindrically shaped body of the same diameter as boring 21 in intermediate shelf 2 and is about half the length of support part 6. The height of clamping 25 is about two-thirds of the thickness of the intermediate shelf. An eccentric boring 27 is made at the underside 26 of the cylinder, which boring is of such depth that a closed end surface 28 remains. Through the eccentric boring 27, the wall of the clamping element 25 receives a sickle-like shape, i.e., the wall thickness increases over half the circumference and then decreases again. At the point of the smallest wall thickness of the sickle-shaped wall 29, there is a milled recess 30 whose width is somewhat greater than the width of support part 6 (FIG. 4) so that when the clamping element is inserted into the boring 21, the hook 31 can be inserted into the milled recess. The diameter of the boring corresponds approximately to the outer diameter' of the ciamping element 25. Clamping element 25 has on one side a slot 32 running from the bottom of the milled recess obliquely upwards, and the slot lies lowest at the point of the least wall thickness and highest at the greatest thickness of the sickle-shaped wall. Through this oblique slot 32, an approximation of a half spiral appears in the sickle-shaped wall 29. A slot 33 is situated in this end surface 28 of the clamping element into which slot a tool for twisting the clamping element 25 can be inserted.

The bracing of the intermediate shelf 2 against side 1 of the cabinet now takes place after the intermediate shelf 2 has been laid on the support part 6 by the twisting of clamping element 25 around its cylinder axis in the direction shown by arrow 34 in FIG. 4. By the twisting of the clamping member, the part 26 of clamping element 25 lying below the spiral enters into engagement under ank 17 of the hook 31 and, at the same time, this part presses against surface 16. Because the sickle-shaped wall thickness of the clamping element becames larger both in height and in width, the support part 6 is pulled in over the vertical ank 16 and the horizontal ank 17 in radial and axial directions. The radial pulling force of the clamping element causes the pressing of the intermediate shelf 2 against the side wall 1 of the cabinet, and the axial pulling force causes the pressing of intermediate Hoor 2 on support part 6. As the bottom surface 26 of the clamping element does not reach to the bottom 23 of the cutouts 12 and 15, support part 6 presses on the bottom of the milled slot 18.

The characteristics of the described embodiment of the invention on which the technical advance depends and which produces the proposed solution of new cabinet clamping device is the bracing force provided by the new support element of generally cylindrical conformation working on two directions, these two directions being radial and axial to the clamping device, these forces bracing the intermediate shelf on the side of the cabinet and providing a tighter fitting for the clamping device to its support which is attached to the cabinet. Also, the novel clamping device of the invention permits the addition of an intermediate shelf or a partition wall into a cabinet.

I claim:

1. Means to detachably install a supporting member, such as a wall, a wall divider or a shelf, into a furniture cabinet consisting essentially of a panel having a slot near an end thereof and having a bore at the top therein, a tting placed within said panel slot, said fitting having a tap extending beyond the edge of the panel into a socket in the wall of the cabinet and a supporting part within the slot of the panel, said tap extending from the supporting part along an axis which is asymmetrical to the axis of the support and coincident with that of the panel, cam surfaces formed within the body of the supporting part, a clamping element having an eccentric bore on its underside and being inserted into said 4bore of the panel at the top of the panel and extending into contact with the cam surfaces, cam surfaces on the clamping element cooperating with the cam surfaces of the supporting part so that upon twisting of said clamping element the cam action will pull the supporting element in both radial and axial directions and press the panel against the walls of the cabinet.

2. Means to detachably install a panel into a furniture cabinet having walls provided with sockets, said panel being provided with a slot-shaped recess at the Ibottom and near one end thereof, a bore in said panel extending from the top thereof and perpendicular thereto and entering the slot-shaped recess, a fitting cooperating with said slot and cabinet socket to mount the panel in the cabinet, said fitting comprising a tap and an elongated supporting part, the tap fitting into the wall socket of the cabinet and the supporting part being sunk into the panel recess, said tap extending from the support bar along an axis which is asymmetrical to the axis of the support and coincident with that of the panel, two cutouts in said support which are longitudinally spaced thereon, the surface of one of said cutouts forming a hook while the other cutout is formed in a U-shape, a cylindrical clamping element mounted within the `bores `of the panel and having an eccentric bore at its under side, said bore having walls which are shaped as camming means for contacting and coacting with the hook cutout of the supporting member whereby the twisting of said clamping member about its cylindrical axis engages the hook surfaces by said clamping element and pulls the support member in both radial and axial directions for pressing the panel against the wall of the cabinet.

3. The structure defined in claim 2 wherein said supporting part of said slot and socket tting is of rectangular cross section with its height being about two-thirds of the thickness of the panel, while its width is less than the thickness of said panel.

4. The structure defined in claim 2 wherein the axis of said bore through said panel is directed toward the longitudinal axis of said elongated support part and is halfway between the hook-shaped cutout and the U- shaped cutout of said support part, the diameter of the boring being smaller than the length of the support part and the depth of said bore is such as to reach slightly short of the bottoms of the cutouts.

5. The structure as dened in claim 2 wherein said cylindrically shaped clamping member is of the same diameter as said bore through said panel and is about half the length of said elongated support part, the height of the clamp member being about two-thirds of the thickness of the panel and the eccentric bore provides a sickle shape at the wall of said clamping element in which the thickness of said wall increases over one-half of the circumference and decreases over the other half of said circumference and wherein a recess is provided at the portion of the smallest wall thickness which is slightly =wider than the width of the support path.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 630,416 11/1961 Canada. 80,937 11/ 1963 France. 830,378 7/ 1938 France. 1,276,200 10/ 1961 France.

734,489 4/ 1943 Germany. 930,109 7/ 1955 Germany.

CARL W. TOMLIN, Primary Examiner.

W. L. SHEDD, Assistant Examiner. 

